Surprising Heroics
by ObliviousTrace
Summary: Just a short, bittersweet tale of the inevitable final battle, and what it means for two lovers caught in its midst. DHr


**Surprising Heroics **

I think I loved him because he wasn't a hero.

I had an overdose of heroes early on. Harry, of course, Ron, even I played the hero occasionally.

Not him.

I told him that when he first asked me why I was visiting him every night after my fiancée fell asleep in the Gryffindor dorms.

I told him that he wasn't a hero.

I left out the part that I loved him.

To be honest, I really had no idea how it started. Well, it started with him grabbing me and kissing me one day while we fought. I still remember that first rush of thrilling and illicit heat. After that, it was I who instigated our brief encounters.

I just don't remember how it got to the point where I couldn't sleep unless it was in his arms.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Just like he wasn't supposed to fight with us that day.

At the last moment, he walked into our meetings and told us all of the Dark Lord's plans. Dumbledore said he knew that he would come around. Harry asked him why he did it.

Draco, my Draco, grinned the grin that never failed to make my heart flop. "I guess I have a soft spot for Muggleborns after all."

I was blushing furiously, but no one noticed. Except, of course, for my always concerned fiancée. But he just frowned and decided to trust me.

' Ron really does love me.

But the next day on the battlefield, I was only aware of the crowd of black robes facing us and the silver-eyed man nearby.

Then I wasn't aware of anything except my wand and terror coursing through my veins.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luna as the first to fall. Then Sprout. Then I heard Lavender's scream as Seamus crumpled.

But Draco stood beside me, so I was whole.

I pushed aside pain when something grazed my arm and I began to bleed. I pushed away pain when George fell and Fred fell to his knees beside the body of his twin and now severed half. I forgot the pain when Neville, MacGonagall, Tonks, Remus, Hagrid, and so many of my friends died. I could practically hear the sound of breaking hearts around me, but I ignored it.

Draco still stood.

Then everything stopped and nobody breathed and it was just Voldemort and Harry.

With a thin-lipped grin, Voldemort raised two wands and launched two curses, not at Harry, but at Ron and me.

Someone pushed Ron out of the way.

And my silver-eyed love jumped in front of me.

It wasn't Avada. Even Voldemort couldn't cast two of those at once. But it was enough, and it hit dead on.

I can't remember if I screamed. I don't remember seeing Harry destroy Voldemort and collapsing. I just remember somehow being on the ground with him in my arms.

He grinned weakly up at me, and my heart still managed to flop. He looked beautiful even covered in mud and blood, even with that hideous wound staring out from his chest.

"Looks like I was a hero after all." He coughed as he laughed.

I just cried, hating him for laughing at his own acidic irony while my Eden was burning.

He grabbed my hand, and I was surprised at the strength he still had.

"I love you. God, I love you Hermione. Death isn't going to change anything." He coughed again, this time blood.

"I love you, hero or not." I choked out, and he smiled and my heart flipped a final time. I kissed his bloody lips until he stopped kissing back. Then I blacked out.

They all know now, know that Draco and I were together. It hurt Ron, but he still wants to marry me. He knows I need someone to hold me in the night to make the nightmares stop.

Because they keep coming. Every time I see Fred and he seems so lost. Every time Lavender twists her engagement ring around her finger. Every time I realize again that Harry won't come back.

Every time I see grey.

So Ron and I hold each other and we cry in the night when the demons come.

I think losing Harry hurt him more than me. We cling together, the shattered remains of a beautiful trio.

I visit Snape often now, because he knew Draco best. We never talk about him, we just have this silent understanding. They say that he carried me back to the castle when they found me next to Draco. He was like a son to him.

And when darkness falls, I sleep in Ron's arms and throb for the unlikely hero I love.


End file.
